History Analysis / Inception

** If one believes it is all a dream, that is evidenced by: the lack of explanation for Mal being on the balcony opposite their suite when jumping, Cobb's father telling him to, "come back to reality," the contrived coincidences of the chase scene, the random narrowing of the buildings in the chase scene, the fact that [[MeaningfulName Mal]], short for Mallorie, is also used in "[[BigBad Grand Mal]]" and Petit Mal, that mean Big Bad and Little Bad respectively types of seizures, and is pronounced the exact same way, the at times arbitrary rules of the universe, the top not stopping at the end, etc.

** While Limbo is described as being very 'deep', it's also described as 'unconstructed dreamspace'. Therefore Limbo is always what's directly below the last constructed level of a dream - whether that's the third level or the first level. When Eames (3rd level dreamer) and Arthur (2nd level dreamer) were 'woken up', their constructed dream levels crumbled, which means that Limbo is the level immediately below Level one and technically Saito and Cobb only need to kick up one level to get back to level one.
*** ...or does he?

** If one believes the real world was indeed real, that is evidenced by: In the dream world and in memory, Cobb is always wearing his wedding ring, never sees his children's faces, and they are always wearing the exact same clothes. The top also never stops spinning of its own volition. In the real world and present time, Cobb's ring is absent, and when he finally sees his children's faces they are wearing subtly different clothing--the plaid of James's shirt is no longer diagonal and is less thick, and Phillipa seems to be wearing a white shirt under her similar dress. Cobb's personal totem seems to have been his wedding ring, and when he spins the top and lets it go without waiting to see if it stops, he is consciously relinquishing the cancerous idea that took part of his life from him in order to be there for his children. While the trope is brilliantly played with, and the viewer is meant to wonder, many theories about the movie pay a bit too much attention to the tricks of the genre and don't take into account the emotional heart of the movie, which is Cobb's love for his children.

** While Limbo is described as being very 'deep', it's also described as 'unconstructed dreamspace'. Therefore Limbo is always what's directly below the last constructed level of a dream - whether that's the third level or the first level. When Eames (3rd level dreamer) and Arthur (2nd level dreamer) were 'woken up', their constructed dream levels crumbled, which means that Limbo is the level immediately below Level one and technically Saito and Cobb only need to kick up one level to get back to level one.

* How does Cobb get back to Level One, since he's missed the chain of kicks and the chain of worlds has been broken?

Also, because Saito is now dead in all three levels, trying to wake him up from a level three Limbo would result in him going to level two. In which he is also dead, thus sending him back to Limbo. He would need to be kicked from level one limbo to get out. This is why Cobb goes back to level one and dies there (though he really dies in all three levels simulaneously), so he can get to that level one limbo.

** If one believes it is all a dream, that is evidenced by: the lack of explanation for Mal being on the balcony opposite their suite when jumping, the contrived coincidences of the chase scene, the random narrowing of the buildings in the chase scene, the fact that [[MeaningfulName Mal]], short for Mallorie, is also used in "[[BigBad Grand Mal]]" and Petit Mal, that mean Big Bad and Little Bad respectively types of seizures, and is pronounced the exact same way, the at times arbitrary rules of the universe, the top not stopping at the end, etc.